Richard Starkey, MBE (born 7 July 1940) better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in August 1962, taking the place of Pete Best. In addition to his contribution as drummer, Starr featured as lead vocals on a number of successful Beatles songs (in particular, "With a Little Help from My Friends", "Yellow Submarine", and The Beatles version of "Act Naturally"), as co-writer with the song "What Goes On" and primary writer with "Don't Pass Me By" and "Octopus's Garden".
As drummer for The Beatles, Starr was musically creative, and his contribution to the band's music has received high praise from notable drummers in more recent times. Starr described himself as "your basic offbeat drummer with funny fills", technically limited by being a left-handed person playing a right-handed kit.[1] Drummer Steve Smith said that Starr's popularity "brought forth a new paradigm" where "we started to see the drummer as an equal participant in the compositional aspect" and that Starr "composed unique, stylistic drum parts for The Beatles songs". In 2011, Starr was picked as the fifth-best drummer of all-time by Rolling Stone readers.
Starr is the most documented and critically acclaimed actor-Beatle, playing a central role in several Beatles films, and appearing in numerous other movies, both during and after his career with The Beatles. After The Beatles' break-up in 1970, Starr achieved solo musical success with several singles and albums, and recorded with each of his fellow ex-Beatles as they too developed their post-Beatle musical careers. He has also been featured in a number of TV documentaries, hosted TV shows, narrated the first two series of the children's television series Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends and portrayed "Mr. Conductor" during the first season of the PBS children's television series Shining Time Station. Since 1989, Starr has toured with eleven versions of Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band.
Yellow Submarine is a 1968 animated musical fantasy film based on the music of The Beatles. It is also the title for the film's soundtrack album, released as part of The Beatles' music catalogue. The film was directed by animation producer George Dunning, and produced by United Artists (UA) and King Features Syndicate. The real Beatles participated only in the closing scene of the film, with the fictional counterparts of The Beatles voiced by other actors.
The film received a widely positive reception from critics and audiences alike. It is also credited with bringing more interest in animation as a serious art form. Time commented that it "turned into a smash hit, delighting adolescents and esthetes alike".
In the beginning of the story, Pepperland is introduced by a narrator as a cheerful music-loving paradise under the sea, protected by Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. A yellow submarine rests on a somewhat Aztec-like pyramid on a hill. At the edge of the land is a range of high blue mountains.
The land falls under a surprise attack by the music-hating Blue Meanies (who live in or beyond the blue mountains), who seal the band inside a music-proof bubble, make the Pepperlanders immobile like statues, and drain the countryside of colour. The attack starts with magical projectiles fired from big artillery stationed in the blue mountains.
In the last minute before his own capture, Pepperland's elderly Lord Mayor sends Old Fred, a sailor (whom the mayor calls "Young Fred"), who runs ahead of the attack to the submarine hill and takes off in the Yellow Submarine to get help. Old Fred travels to Liverpool (whose scene is set by "Eleanor Rigby"), where he follows the depressed and aimless Ringo and persuades him to return to Pepperland with him. Ringo collects his "mates" John, George, and finally Paul. According to the director, the four are introduced with accompanying characterisation: Ringo wanders aimlessly around Liverpool, at one point claiming that he has no imagination; John appears with literary fanfare, as Frankenstein's monster who drinks a potion and turns into himself; George appears in a surreal, Sitar-themed area that plays on his championing of transcendental meditation; and Paul appears as a "modern Mozart". The five journey back to Pepperland in the yellow submarine. As they start learning to operate the submarine, they sing All Together Now, after which they pass through several regions on their way to Pepperland.
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